7 Years
by DIRKDRAWMESMuT
Summary: Believe it or not, it's actually an Edgewright.  Apollo gets caught in a snowstorm when someone with a slight German accent helps him out.  But it isn't Klavier...  Rated K/T  for the kissing scene at the end, between two men.  Don't like, don't read.


The first thing Apollo felt as he stepped out of the supermarket was the sharp sensation of snowflakes gently pelting his face. He then felt his blood swarming to his cheeks, in order to fend off the cold feeling. He looked up at the cloudy night sky, then down at the shopping bag in his hand. In an instant, Apollo predicted that it was going to be a long walk to get back home. He started to feel a bit nervous; wondering whether his groceries were going to make it by the time he got back to the agency.

He sighed and told himself it was a bad idea to come to the supermarket when there was an approaching snowstorm. But they were in pretty desperate need of groceries, seeing as their fridge had barely anything in it. With his free hand, he pulled his hood over his head and commenced his journey through the snow.

As the minutes went by, Apollo's legs began to feel more and more strained from walking through the snow. Before he left the store, he remembered the snow was ankle-deep. Now it was just below his calves. Apollo was amazed, yet frustrated at how snow could pile up so much within a short time span. Now that his feet was totally submerged in the cold white matter, he felt that they were going to fall off if he spent another minute in it. He looked up at the nearby street signs, which were barely visible, and saw that he was only one quarter of the way there, much to his dismay.

Apollo felt somewhat relieved when a bus shelter came into view. He scrambled towards it and ran under the roof. He placed his grocery bags on the dry bench, and doubled over after to catch his breath. One quarter of the way home, and already he was winded. Apollo never really liked the snow; it always slowed him down during everyday tasks. He sat down on the bench beside his bags full of food, wondering how he was going to get to the agency through this storm. He examined his gloved hands, which were cold and shaking madly.

A little while later, Apollo was back at it again. All the cold sensations rushed back into his body, worse than before. Apollo started to believe that he wouldn't be able to make it back. His vision was obstructing thanks to the increasing amount of falling snow, and his body grew more strained every minute. He suddenly heard the faint sound of a door opening and closing, and footsteps crunching in the snow. Before he knew it, Apollo tripped over his own feet. But instead of snow smothering his already-cold face, he was just above it; feeling hands holding him up.

Apollo was helped up to his feet. He looked up at the stranger who caught him.

'Are you alright?' asked the man. Apollo noticed the very slight German accent in his voice. But surprisingly, it wasn't Klavier (who likes to flaunt his accent like nobody's business).

'Uh, yeah! I-I'm fine!' Great, he thought. Going back to his old catchphrase. 'I was just trying t-to get home…'

'You sound very tired.' he noted. The man paused for a minute, as if he was thinking of what to do. '… Do you want to rest at my place for a bit?'

Apollo blinked at the stranger's generosity. Although he knew he should be wary of people he didn't know, he was, indeed, very cold and exhausted.

'Are you sure? I mean, we just met and all…' Apollo said.

The man nodded. 'I'm alright with it. My house is this way.'

They walked up the front stairs of a nearby condominium. The man opened the door and let Apollo in first. Apollo placed his groceries outside of the closet door and removed his coat. He turned to the man, who was closing the front door.

'Thank you very much, sir.' he said gratefully. The man removed his coat and hung it on the coat rack.

'Don't mention it.' he said. 'It was right thing to do, after all.'

Apollo noticed that the man had shoulder-length light black hair tied back into a ponytail, and a pair of reading glasses sitting in front of his eyes. He donned a magenta vest with a white dress shirt, black pants and… a cravat? Apollo thought it was rather odd to see someone wear something like that during winter.

The two walked into the man's living room, which had a kitchen and island table built in at one corner. It was very traditional, with a few ceiling-high bookcases made of cherry wood against one wall. There were also many pictures hung up on the wall, a few of them of a man and a child, who looked a bit like the man.

'Please, have a seat.' said the man. 'Would you like some tea?'

'That would be great, thanks.' he beamed.

The man began to prepare the water for the tea. Apollo examined the large bookcases. Surprisingly, many of these books were about law, and he noticed a few encyclopedias on different phobias.

'So what's your name?' the man asked.

'My name?' Apollo repeated. 'Um, Apollo Justice, sir.'

'Apollo Justice?' The man turned his head a bit to him. 'That's… a rather unusual name. But it's a name, nonetheless.' he commented.

'Well, I wasn't really the one who chose It.' he laughed, sounding rather nervous in tone.

'Ah, that reminds me; I haven't told you who I am yet, have I?'

Apollo shook his head. The man took the kettle off the stove and poured the tea into two porcelain cups. He placed them on the island. 'Miles Edgeworth.' he told him, shaking Apollo's hand. 'I'm a prosecuting attorney.'

'A prosecutor?' Apollo repeated.

'Yes. I've been prosecuting for about 14 years now. Ever since I was 20.' Miles said.

That makes him the same age as Mr. Wright, Apollo thought.

'And seeing as you have the badge, you must be a defense attorney, correct?' Miles pointed out.

'Uh, yes! I am.' Apollo replied, quickly glancing at his badge. 'Though I'm still somewhat new at it. I've only been a lawyer for about a year and a half now.'

Suddenly, Apollo's cell phone began to ring. He took it out of his pocket and answered the call. 'Apollo Justice speaking.'

'Polly! Where are you? Daddy and I are getting really worried!' said Trucy's voice. She sounds pretty angry, Apollo thought.

'Oh, Trucy! Yeah, uh, I kind of got caught in the storm…' he replied.

'Well, where are you? Are you still at the supermarket?' she asked.

'No, no. Let me speak to your dad, okay?'

There was a brief silence, and the slight sound of Trucy calling Phoenix. Then Phoenix answered. 'You alright, kiddo?'

'Yes, I'm fine, Mr. Wright-'

Miles began to sputter his tea the moment he mentioned "Wright". He coughed a bit and exclaimed, 'Excuse me?'

'What was that?' Phoenix asked.

'Hang on a minute.' Apollo put aside the phone and turned his attention to Miles. 'Are you okay, Mr. Edgeworth?' he asked, sounding quite concerned.

'Did you just say Wright? And "dad" when you were talking to that girl?' he interrogated.

'Well, yes. Mr. Wright is my boss, and he has a daughter.' Apollo told him. 'Do you know him?'

Miles was silent for a few seconds, with an expression like he was remembering something emotionally painful. 'Probably not…' he replied.

Apollo cocked his head a bit in skepticism, but shrugged and picked up the phone again. 'Sorry about that, Mr. Wright.'

'Apollo, where are you?' Phoenix questioned.

'Well… I'm at this man's house. He saw me walking outside, and invited me in.' he explained.

'I see.' Phoenix said. 'Tell me; what's his name, Apollo?'

He looked up at Miles, who seemed to be deep in thought and not concentrating on Apollo's conversation. 'He told me his name's Miles Edgeworth.' he replied. 'You know him?'

Phoenix laughed slightly over the phone. 'I might. Did he say that he's a prosecutor?'

'Yes.'

'And does he wear a cravat and magenta clothing?'

'Yes…' Apollo was starting to wonder about Phoenix's relationship with Miles. It definitely seemed that they knew each other from somewhere.

'Then yes. I do know him.' Phoenix answered. All of the sudden the whole house darkened, then Apollo heard a faint scream coming from the other end of the line. Miles stood up and examined the place.

'Mr. Wright! What just happened?' Apollo exclaimed.

'Probably just a blackout. Sounds like it scared Trucy out of her wits.' Apollo heard a small cry of protest coming from a certain magician. 'Anyway, it seems like it's virtually impossible right now for you to make it back to the office.'

'Then what am I going to do?' Apollo cried.

'I'm sure Edgeworth will let you stay for the night. You can trust him. Just don't irritate him too much. He can have a bit of a bad temper sometimes.'

'Okay… but maybe you should talk to hi-'

Before he could finish, the call had been disconnected. He hung up on me, Apollo thought, stunned at Phoenix's hasty action. He flipped his phone closed and sighed in annoyance. He glanced at Miles, who was lighting a few candles around the house. He lit the last one and blew out the igniter, then waltzed back to the island.

'Mr. Wright told me he did know you.' Apollo told him.

Miles stared down at his hands on the table surface, saying nothing. A female voice suddenly shouted Miles' name, and the stomping of feet down the stairs could be heard right after. Apollo yelped and covered his eyes when he noticed that the woman was half naked, with nothing but a towel covering her body. And in response, she also screamed.

'Miles! Who is this?' she interrogated. Her cheeks were clearly red with embarrassment and anger.

Miles sighed, particularly over the new situation. 'His name is Apollo. I invited him in when I found him struggling to get through the blizzard.' he explained.

The woman glared at Apollo with a small sneer. 'You better keep this fool away from me.' she growled.

'Franziska, please. He's not-'

'Where's the flashlight?' she questioned demandingly, cutting him off. Miles rolled his eyes and handed Franziska a small flashlight. She took it and hurried back upstairs. Apollo looked back at Miles; lowering his hand.

'Who… was that?' Apollo asked; a bit stunned at Franziska's demeanor.

'Her name is Franziska von Karma. She's also a prosecutor… and my adoptive sister.' he replied hesitantly. 'She's staying with me for a couple of days, since she's moving and the movers are still busy moving her things. Try not to get in her way.'

'I'll keep that in mind…' Apollo had another sip of his tea and averted his eyes away.

Miles twiddled his thumbs a bit in hesitation. 'In response to your earlier question: yes, I do know Phoenix Wright. I also know that he quit defending a long time ago.' he answered. 'What really surprised me was when you said he had a daughter…'

'I think that surprises a lot of people. But there's something behind that.' Apollo told him with a wry grin.

Miles perked his head up. 'And what is that?' he inquired.

'Trucy is Mr. Wright's adopted daughter.' he explained.

'Adopted daughter?' Miles repeated; sounding surprised once again.

'Trucy is 16. If Mr. Wright had a biological daughter that's currently this age, then he would've been 18 when she was born.' he explained.

Miles laughed. 'Very true.'

Apollo finished his tea and placed it aside. 'Mr. Edgeworth, there's another question that I wanted to ask you, if that's alright.'

Miles nodded and looked at Apollo attentively. 'Go right ahead.'

'What's your relationship with Mr. Wright?'

It almost seemed like Miles was expecting this question to pop up, but he looked reluctant to say anything about it. Apollo's bracelet could even sense the tense feeling coming from him.

'We… used to be friends.' he muttered.

'Used to?'

'When Wright and I were in the fourth grade, he was accused of stealing money from me and put on a "class trial" for it. The only ones who stood up for him were myself and another friend of mine.' Miles explained.

'Hold it! You stood up for him? But you were the victim!' said Apollo, obviously confused.

'Everyone plus the teacher was accusing him without any decisive proof. We were the only ones who pointed that out.' he clarified. 'After that, he was found innocent. We became close friends as a result.'

Apollo had a somewhat stunned look on his face from hearing his story. 'That's… actually really amazing.' he said. 'But what happened after that made you break up as friends?'

Apollo felt his bracelet squeeze his wrist even tighter as the same painful expression appeared on Miles' face once again. He was getting the impression that his past was pretty painful to remember. He felt regret for even asking about it.

'My father was killed.' Miles finally told him.

'Killed?' exclaimed Apollo. 'How?'

'Like you, my father was also a defense attorney.' he said. 'I was with him the day he died. It was after one of his trials; there was an earthquake that day and we were in an elevator at the time. We were stuck in the elevator car for several hours.

'There was another person with my father and I, and he was getting really on edge, to the point where he was trying to assault my father because of the lack of oxygen. I found a gun in front of me, and tried to throw it to him. Then a shot rang out.'

'And that's what killed your dad?' Apollo assumed.

'No.' said Miles. 'The impact of the gun hitting something triggered it. It hit someone who was outside of the elevator.' He looked down reluctantly. 'It was Franziska's father.'

'Did it kill him?'

'No, it only injured his right shoulder.' he told him. 'The elevator doors opened before the rescuers came, and Franziska's father was still there. He found us passed out from oxygen depletion, plus the gun. He picked up the gun and shot my father.'

Apollo's eyes widened. 'What? Why?' he exclaimed.

'One reason: revenge.' said Miles. 'Manfred von Karma was a prosecutor known for his perfect record of guilty verdicts, going back 40 years. However, my father managed to get him penalized once during the trial, which harmed his record.'

That's a rather drastic way to get revenge on someone, Apollo thought. 'So… what happened after your dad died?' he asked, hoping he wasn't depressing Miles too much.

'von Karma adopted me, and raised me to become a prosecutor in Germany. At first I wanted to be a lawyer like my father, but after he died, I couldn't feel any mercy for those who were accused, and saw no reason why they shouldn't be sent to jail.'

'Wait. Wasn't he found out?' Apollo wondered.

'He didn't get found out until 15 years later, the day when the case was going to be closed for good. I was also tried twice that day, for two accusations of murder, including my father's murder.' A small smile crossed Miles' face. 'I'm still quite thankful for the one lawyer who saved me and discovered the real murderer of my father.' he told Apollo.

'The one lawyer? Who was that?'

Miles chuckled lightly. 'That would be none other than Phoenix Wright.'

'Mr. Wright!'

'Turns out he was pretty concerned about me, since we hadn't talked for all those years.' he said.

Apollo cocked his head a little to the side. 'You never even chatted with him on the phone or though the computer?' he inquired.

'Not even once. von Karma wouldn't allow it.' he said. 'So Wright became a defense attorney, because he knew he would've met me in court sooner or later.'

'This von Karma guy sounds really unpleasant…' Apollo said rather quietly.

Miles grimaced and replied, 'He didn't have an ounce of kindness in him. But he was a god of prosecution, Apollo. A god! He would do anything to get the defendant's guilty verdict; he would even throw in false evidence just to maintain his record.'

Okay, I'm convinced that this von Karma guy was extremely drastic, Apollo thought. 'So he was discovered the day Mr. Wright saved you from going to jail?' he asked.

'Yes. He was then tried and sentenced to death soon after for his crimes.' Miles told him. 'But in an odd sort of way, I suppose he won as well.'

'How so?'

'He got the ultimate guilty verdict, of course.' he replied. 'His own.'

Apollo thought deeply about that statement. 'I think I can see your logic in that.'

'Anyways, I suppose Wright wants me to do something for you since this storm isn't going to die down for a while.' Miles assumed.

'Is that a problem? I mean, it's fine and all, you don't have to-'

'It's quite alright. We have a spare room you can use.' Mile said, cutting him off.

'Ah… thank you, Mr. Edgeworth. I'm sorry this whole situation had to happen.

* * *

The snow ploughs began work early the next morning, to Apollo's relief. And luckily, his groceries were still okay. Seeing as the sidewalks were now even more piled up with snow, Apollo gladly accepted Miles' offer to drive him home.

After about five minutes of driving, the agency was in view. Apollo then began to wish that he had a car so he didn't have to bike and walk around all the time; it would make things a lot faster. The car stopped in front of the building, and Trucy was already outside waiting. Miles looked out his window and up at Trucy.

'So that's Trucy?' Miles asked.

'Yeah.' Apollo replied. 'She's a magician.'

'That explains the hat then.' he said, noting her silk top hat. 'She's very cute though.'

'A lot of people say that about her.' Apollo said, giving him a smirk. He reached for the car handle and opened the door, stepping out.

Trucy spotted Apollo and waved frantically. 'Hi, Polly!' she called out.

A shaven Phoenix Wright stepped out quickly after, wearing his old blue suit, rather than his usual attire. He looked like he was 24 again. Apollo pulled out the grocery bags and waved back. Suddenly Miles began to unbuckle himself and get out of the car.

'Mr. Edgeworth? What are you doing?' Apollo wondered.

Miles slammed the car door shut. 'I'm just going to have a chat with Wright, if that's alright.' he said calmly.

'Uh, yeah! Totally fine.' Damn it, Apollo thought.

Apollo walked up the steps first, greeting the two and then going inside with Trucy. Phoenix glanced down at Miles, who looked up at him. Phoenix smiled and walked down the steps; standing just a few feet away from Miles at the bottom.

'So we meet again, huh, Edgey?' said Phoenix.

Miles glared at him. 'You're a real pain, Wright.' he growled.

Phoenix chuckled at his statement. 'What? Was Apollo too much?'

'No, not at all. I'm just saying you're a pain, in general.'

His chuckle became a laugh. 'Heh, sharp with your words as always, Edgeworth.' he commented.

'There's a lot of things you haven't told me about. Such as your daughter, whom Apollo explained to me about for you.' Miles said irritably.

Phoenix studied his friend's eyes. On the outside he could see someone who was rather grumpy and currently a bit annoyed at him. Yet his sharp grey eyes told him that he was missed a bit; wondering what was happening all these years.

'You seem a little concerned about me.' Phoenix mentioned, grinning.

Miles' face quickly went red. He quickly averted his gaze away from Phoenix. 'Like I would be concerned about you.' he replied, sounding a bit flustered.

Phoenix stepped a bit closer to him. 'You're a bad liar, Miles.' he said. 'You have a Psyche-Lock right in front of you.'

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Miles lied.

'Lying again.' said Phoenix. 'You used the magatama once, remember?

'Hmph.'

Phoenix sighed at the stubborn prosecutor. 'If you will please stop being so hostile towards me, maybe we can go out tonight. Just you and me. I'll tell you everything about these past 7 years.'

Miles crossed his arms and looked at him. Phoenix just shrugged; smiling innocently.

'Alright, I'll go.' he finally answered, unfolding his arms. 'But I want to hear everything.'

Phoenix removed Miles' eyeglasses off his face, gently pressing his lips against the other's. 'I promise.'

Miles returned a more passionate kiss to him, and then embraced him amorously. Phoenix just continued to smile at his friend. 'Did you miss me that much?' he asked Miles in a voice just above a whisper.

Miles was silent for a minute. He clutched the back of Phoenix's blazer a bit tighter. 'Sort of.' he muttered; turning red again.

A very small laugh came from Phoenix. He closed his eyes, enjoying the moment.

'I missed you too.'


End file.
